Energy fills Fitton Field

Friday

Sep 2, 2011 at 6:00 AMSep 2, 2011 at 10:16 AM

As always, Tom Donnelly of Millbury was first in line at the gate with his pickup truck, set to grab the parking space on the baseball field nearest the Fitton Field entrance by the south end zone. Usually, Donnelly and Neil Raymond of Worcester host a tailgate party that attracts 20 or so friends. Last night, before Holy Cross' first night home football game, they entertained more than twice that many with an impressive spread.

By John Conceison TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

As always, Tom Donnelly of Millbury was first in line at the gate with his pickup truck, set to grab the parking space on the baseball field nearest the Fitton Field entrance by the south end zone.

Usually, Donnelly and Neil Raymond of Worcester host a tailgate party that attracts 20 or so friends. Last night, before Holy Cross' first night home football game, they entertained more than twice that many with an impressive spread.

Indeed, this was a special event. The crowd of 15,942 to watch UMass beat Holy Cross, 24-16, was the biggest at Fitton in a couple of decades, easily the largest during the Tom Gilmore era, now in its eighth season.

“This is just fantastic. We love to see them put the lights up here,” said Donnelly, a 14-year season ticket-holder who claims he gets the first space “99 percent of the time, rain or shine.”

He was excited when he heard HC was opening with a night game against the Minutemen.

“I knew where I was going to be,” he said. “My wife (Katherine) had an operation on her arm today, (but) I'm here.”

“I wish they could do this for every home game,” Raymond said. “I'd rather have the games at night, that'd be great. I think if you have more night games, more people would come. I think it would be a big boost.”

There was a certain electricity in the student section.

“I've never seen this section this packed and on its feet for so long,” said senior Kallen Bakas, a biology major/chemistry minor from southern California who had his hair painted purple for the occasion. “Everyone has never been so much into this game.”

“We've been talking about it all week,” said HC junior Mary Jo Coughlin, who was tailgating with her sister, Jill, a 2010 graduate; her mom, Mary Jaeger, a 1983 alum, and her grandparents, Judy and Ray Jaeger. “Students are ready to have some fun. It increases the school spirit and creates a more exciting environment.”

“I was talking with some of the players when I was moving in my daughter,” Mary Jaeger said, “and they were so psyched about this night game. This is a perfect time, right before Labor Day weekend.”

“This shows that Holy Cross can host such a premier event,” said Joe Wilson, the former star Holy Cross running back who was inducted last night into the Crusader Legends Ring of Honor along with Jon Morris, George Connor and Bruce Kozerski.

“It's a football game against UMass,” Wilson added, “but when you see all the people come out and the kind of things that can happen around the football game, people will be more interested in coming.”

“This can give the school some identity, some quality marketing,” said Morris, who later played center for the New England Patriots. “The school feels it would help recruiting, and I think that makes some sense. All the big-time schools now play night games, and the players like being on television, and I would think it would be difficult if you've got a blue-chip prospect that you want to come to Holy Cross, if you don't have the ability to offer two or three of those type of games.”

“I'm not sure we'll do it every year,” HC athletic director Dick Regan said, “but we'd like to do it a lot of years, depending on the schedule. It'll depend on who the opponent is, but I think we'll do it often.”

Regan indicated next year's opener against New Hampshire at Fitton Field likely will be under the temporary lights.

“You don't want to have a Saturday game on Labor Day weekend,” he said. “It's just a horrible time to have a game.”

The temporary lighting, like that provided last night by Musco Lighting, is the way Holy Cross will go for a while.

“It could cost 800,000 to a million dollars possibly to permanently light the place, so that's a big ticket,” Regan said. “We'd probably have to evaluate that. If it's something you're going to do two or three times a year, it costs about $50,000 to rent them, it is something you might want to do.”